PAYDAY Secret ARG
The PAYDAY Secret ARG (alternate reality game) was an event conducted by the developer Overkill Software in August–December 2012. The ARG consisted of clues found in-game and on the PAYDAY Steam forum, which helped players discover the second (secret) vault in First World Bank, now known as "the Overvault." ARG participants were awarded in several ways: those who contributed significantly to the ARG puzzle solution had their names listed in the Overvault; the first team of players that reached the Overvault was depicted in the First World Bank conference room's painting; and players who legitimately reached the Overvault during the event were invited to the Payday: The Secret Steam group, thereby unlocking the Secret mask set. The ARG was initiated shortly after the Wolf Pack DLC was released in August 2012. Some Steam forum members speculated about the possibility of completing the entire Counterfeit heist stealthily. Initially, popular opinion was that it could be done, with the Pacifist achievement being unlocked after a successful run. Bo Andersson, the CEO of Overkill Software, started to provide cryptic clues a few days after the Wolf Pack DLC was released. The in-game puzzle was first solved in early November upon discovery of the Overvault. Bo announced this to the public, and issued a 30-day challenge to conclude the Secret ARG. During the given period, players were required to record their journey to the Overvault without cheating or exploiting, and then send the video to Overkill Software. 837 players reached the Overvault and were awarded. The following patch in December added references to the ARG's contributors, allowed players to access the Overvault on any difficulty level while wearing any mask, and reduced the Overdrill's duration to 33 minutes and 20 seconds (2000 seconds). History Clues Some clues were found in-game, and others published by Bo Andersson on the Steam forums. Some of the clues were known for long time, but omitted. Other clues' relevance to the solution were never fully explained. Bo's hint about the First World Bank Bo stated, "The secret is in the banks vault.... on OVERKILL 145+" in early August. This information was dismissed as trolling or a joke after Bo's alter ego, the Bank Manager, "got blackmailed." Bo's hint about the cameras Bo stated, "no.. you want your accuracy - let the cameras be. Cops will appreciate it." in early August. This clue was understood as related to cameras and accuracy statistics. Bo's probably had freshly in his mind the plans about the Secret trigger, so he answered such a way instead of more straight answer to the original question about why shooting such small object as a camera is not counted positively into the accuracy stat. Bo's hint "have ppl watch you take the gold" This was part of Bo's cryptic reply to the discovery of the second static picture. It means players must wear golden masks and leave the security cameras intact. Static sound on radio Static sound was discovered quickly during multiplayer games, and absent in single player. The decoded image shows "MURUA", four arrows, eight squares, an X, and "Baldwin 1174." First static image Paydaystaticmessage1.jpg|Decoded static image Muruax.jpg|MURUA Aurumx.jpg|AURUM The arrows show the positions in which the four players must stand in First World Bank's vault hallway, as well as the positions in which they must look. The squares are the pillars in the vault hallway. The X marks the location of the strobe light that is activated when the Overdrill can be placed. When the letters of "MURUA" are reversed, "AURUM" (Latin for "gold") is the result. "Baldwin 1174" refers to Baldwin IV's coronation as the King of Jerusalem in 1174. Because Baldwin IV suffered from leprosy, he often wore a mask. Interpreting "AURUM" and "Baldwin 1174" together, the result is golden mask. Compass rug The southern marker points to a painting of The Last Supper and a depiction of Yggdrasil. The compass and the map with the magnifying glass are oriented the same way, 45° off from the streets. The compass rug was rotated 180° in one of the patches. Map with magnifying glass The magnifying glass is focused on a location in Bolivia, also given by the second static picture's latitude/longitude coordinates. The Last Supper The painting of The Last Supper in Wilson's hints that players should have a dinner at Wilson's cellar: sit on the four chairs. Bo's hint regarding the "quiet place to have a drink" supports this. Yggdrasil The picture of Yggdrasil is related to the second static image, and is divided into four columns like the image. Bo's hint for the second static image Bo stated, "Ages of angst. Sob sob sob... I have seen ppl almost there - so close Guys you have to have faith. And if you dont just take a hint from the French sit down with a couple of friends in a quiet place and have a drink. It always makes me think better. Speaking of that I'm almost back. Thanks for the cheers guys, Im soon back to my old evil self. Bo" "Sob sob sob" means "under under under" in Portuguese. Static sound in Wilson's cellar This hint was discovered by ManyShots, who correctly interpreted Bo's hint for the second static. He triggered it by having all four players sit on the chairs in Wilson's cellar. Second static image The decoded image reads, "33 42 26 S16", "GD RA SIL YG", "40 48 W36 68", arranged in rows. By rearranging the columns to spell "Yggdrasil" (move the rightmost column to the left end), one obtains the coordinates S16°33'42.26" W68°40'48.36", which point to Pumapunku temple in Bolivia. Pumapunku temple Pumapunku temple's relevance to the solution is unknown. Leaked Secret mask textures The Secret masks' textures were discovered and leaked. It is not known if this clue was intentional. The artwork on the masks refer to certain elements from Counterfeit. Secret Dallas.png|Dallas, French flag with "β-2" Secret Hoxton.png|Hoxton, fleur-de-lis Secret Wolf.png|Wolf, dollar bill pattern Secret Chains.png|Chains, Yggdrasil The "β-2" written on Dallas' mask does not appear to be relevant to the solution. One may speculate that it refers to beta access to PAYDAY 2 as a reward. The fleur-de-lis on Hoxton's mask is a symbol of French royalty that is also shown on the painting in the boy's room of Mitchell's house, near the Overvault's tile puzzle, and on the anniversary poster card's back sides. Lilium is a toxic flower, and its depiction in the Overvault hallway may serve as a warning about poison gas. There is heavy French influence on the ARG; Mitchell speaks French and has a French accent, Baldwin IV was of French ancestry, and Bo was using French in his forum replies. However, its relevance to the solution is unknown. The dollar bill pattern on Wolf's mask may refer to the counterfeit money plot or the First World Bank. However, one can only speculate, and its relevance to the solution is unknown. Yggdrasil, depicted on Chains' mask, was used for the clue in the second static image. Bo's hint about pillars Bo stated, "Consider that when you ponder upon the pillars of which this mystery lies. Baldwin, Gold, the temple and the X." This was interpreted correctly by thaismai, who equated the pillars to the blocks in the first static image. Bo confirmed this in his reply. Anniversary poster On October 18, Overkill Software published the anniversary poster, which contains all the clues needed to trigger the secret: * "Prima Mundi Ripam" Direct translation of "First World Bank" from Latin; it is the heist in which the secret lies. * The strawberries, candles, and chocolate on the cake These represent the players, pillars, and desk respectively in the vault hallway of First World Bank. The corkscrew symbolizes a drill. * All the crewmates are wearing golden masks Players must wear golden masks. * Three arrows point to "145" on Hoxton's mask The difficulty setting must be Overkill 145+. * Two operational security cameras All cameras in the bank must be operational * Thermite can The Overvault door is next to where the thermite is placed * The first static image * Playing cards with the fleur-de-lis. Counterfeit rug The highlighted spirals on the rug in Counterfeit shows which tiles to push after the Overdrill door is opened. This rug existed and was discussed prior to the Overvault's discovery, but the connection was made only after. 7200 seconds Overdrill walkthrough The steps how to trigger theSecret in its original form were: *start the First World Bank heist on Overkill 145+ difficulty * all four players had to be wearing the Golden masks *leave all four security cameras in the vault haway intact *players must stay in the positions identified from the mirrored Static 1 picture projected on the vault hallway floor plan: the hallway entrance, at security desk, between pillars on both sides near the security desk *red light flashing indicates the Secret was triggered and previously hidden door above the vault is reveald with a position for placing the drill *a player with the drill places the drill at the reveald door, the drill counter starts at 7200 seconds = 2 hours *after the 7200 seconds the drill is finished and the door opens the Overvault hallway, in front of the Overvault there are tiles on the floor that might be interacted and the Fleur-De-Lys symbol *pressing the correct tiles opens the Overvault and unlocks the Overdrill (Tester) challenge / achievement to every player who is not in custody and plays the heist from the start *when a wrong tile is pushed the green smoke fills the Overvault hallway, the green smoke makes the same damage as the burning thermite; there is no known method to stop the green smoke and reset the tiles to allow the tiles puzzle be correctly pushed Overkill Software accepted also the videos with the players who were in custody during the Overvault opening and missed the challenge / achivement. This allowed such players to get the grand prize, while enabling the Secret Masks was then dependent on player's ability to make another succesful run unlocking the achievement. Overvault was decorated by four Secret Masks and the Overkill Software salutation message Welcome! Show Overkill how you got here. Record a video and send the link to Overkill Software. Overkill salutes you! The recommended load for the secret run was Extra Start Out Ammo , 2 * Big Game Hunters , 2 * More Blood To Bleed , 2 Ammo bags and 2 Medic bags , Broncos , GL40 and main weapons per players preference. Due to 2 hours long waiting for the Overdrill to finish the biggest problem was to keep the ammo. Ammo conservation techniques were essential parts of the successful strategy. Also using the stopwatch to presicesly measure the 2 hours drill was helpfull to prepare for the first assault pause afther the drill is finished. For the host player the easiest way to gain full ammo and health is to be traded from custody by a controlled falling into bleedout before the assault ends. In the First World Bank map on Overkill 145+ difficulty the assaults take 7:30 and the pause in between assaults is exactly 1:00. With knowing the secret trigger conditions and the tiles puzzle the easiest strategy was to start the game and make the first whole drill while camping in the bank management area. This part up to finishing the first drill was pretty easy and players should keep almost all health and ammo for the Overdrill without dropping any bag yet. Players were adviced to make as much hostages as possible around the map for later use. Triggering the Secret after keeping cameras in the vault halway intact and standing in correct positions was sometimes difficult due to sync issues between players. After the Secret was succesfully triggered, the drill player was supposed to place the drill on the revealed Secret door to Overvault hallway. Since the Secret is triggered the remaining cameras might be destroyed. Then the hard time started to survive for 2 hours. The easiest camping location are 4 niches at the entrance to the vault hallway. Players should split into two pairs staying in niches on both sides of the passage dropping a medic bag on one side and ammo on the other. After two or three assaults the game could get into balanced state when almost no cops were approaching the camp from the bank front office and majority of them came from the vault hallway. The possition on both sides of the passage allows to get cops into a cross-fire and ammo being possible to recover without endangering players. Occasional tasers and cloakers should be killed pretty easily, bulldozers were almost never encountered. Using bags was necessary only in really needed situations to conserve the important resources. Getting traded from custody allows to regain freely 100% of ammo for the game host, 50% to the other three players. Before the last assault is over players should refill health and ammo, if necessary dropping the last bags might be needed. As soon as the assault pause is announced by Bain, all four players should storm the vault hallway and fight their way to the opened Overdrill door and Overvault hallway. Three players should defend the player interacting the tiles puzzle in front of the Overvault door. When he is done the Overvault opens and the players are awarded by the Overdrill achievement. Players currently in custody or those, which were not playing the whole game from the start didn't get this achievement. In the Overvault there are 70 golden bars each worth 1,000 K. After taking the gold the players may eventually continue the heist with the remaining map objectives, however this was not necessary for the Overkill Software to accept the team into Payday: The Secretgroup. During the heist players had to record a video showing the Secret trigger and last storming the Overdrill door with opening the Overvault as the evidence they did the Secret and send it to Overkill Software. The conditions to make the Secret legit way were: *Not using any cheaters, cracks and hacks *Playing the game no exploit way (position under manager desk was eliminated by an invisible wall in Patch 20) Game updates related to the Secret in patch 21 When the Secret event was over Overkill Software released Patch 21, which included some game alterations in First World Bank map related to just finished Secret event. Overdrill achievement *Tester challenge and achievement were renamed to Overdrill. *The secret trigger possibility remained in the game, since Patch 21 the Secret could be triggered on any difficulty while wearing any masks. The drill duration was reduced from 7200 seconds (2 hours) to 2000 seconds (33:20 minutes). Overvault *The Overvault was slightly changed. Salutation message from Overkill Software was removed as well as Secret Masks decoration. *Mayan gold was slightly rearanged due to altered room disposition while the amount of 70 gold bars remained the same. *The christmas present in the First World Bank triggering the Last Christmas achievement was added on top of the table with gold. *On the left and right side of the Overvault two plaquettes were installed to immortalize people that significantly contributed resolving the Secret and helped others to reach the Overvault. Pictures of plaquttes: FOR THEIR HONOURARY SERVICE and FOR EXEMPLARY SERVICE AND DEDICATION Conference room in management area *The projection screen in the conference room was put on the other wall, in its original location a picture displaying Team 7200 is placed. The picture is usually displayed in the standard form, with about 30% chance the picture is shown in its scary form with a spooky melody being played by the nearby radio. Secret solution grand prizes The players who were invited intoPayday: The Secretgroup after Overkill Software evaluated their evidence of completing the secret received the grand prize, which is two gifts: *TheSecret mask setin the game. The game checks, if the player has unlocked the Overdrill achievement and is a member of thePayday: The Secret group. *Message from Bain (14-Dec-2012 19:01, only accessible by Payday: The Secretgroup members): "Team, we finally made it. Hitting FWB and stealing the Mayan gold under the nose of Mr Trust. This surely sent a message on the CrimeNet. I'm picking up much more heat than expected though. We have to lay low for a while and then get out of town. Senior Hector is eager to close this deal. We will meet up with his right hand man in DC next year to test the grounds and fence the gold. Over Christmas you guys need to stay low - don't spend anything! This is the big one gentlemen - we have to nail it and then we can sip drinks in the Caribbean - resident style. I'll arrange the gear ahead of time and will get back to you on the specifics in a while. This is our PAYDAY! Bain." The meaning of the message is not clear, however it could be interpreted as a hookup to Payday 2. Trivia *Originally the Overdrill achievement and challenge were instroduced to game files in Patch 15 under name Tester. In the change log Tester achievement was mentioned: Added a tester achievement to test a new way of giving out achievements - u can not get it right now only OVERKILL devs can. *At the begginning of the Secret solution when players were mainly focused on posibility to finish the Counterfeit heist stealthily they were theorizing the cops storm the area, because noone inside Wilson's house picks up the ringing phone. Since then the recurring joke "Have you tried to answer the phone?" appears. *During the first days of the Secret ARG a person called Deputy Callahan did the few posts that seemed to be clues related to the Secret. Those posts (post 1 , post 2 , post 3) included: Search Warrant , Wilson's O.W.I. Report , Dispatch audio log with a morse code message inside and Investigation update . Further analysis of Deputy Callahan's inputs didn't bring any step forward in the Secret solution and became widely considered as trolling. *The first group triggered the Secret at the beggining of November 2012. They created the Steam group Team 7200 where 7200 is the amount of seconds needed by Overdrill to finish. Team 7200 reached the Overvault 3-Nov-2012 and went into contact with Bo. *8-Nov-2012 player eeth named the 7200 seconds drill Overdrill , this name was widely accepted and Overkill Software renamed the Tester achivement to Overdrill with Patch 21. *The list of all players who reached the Overdrill and were eligible to join the Payday: The Secret group is located here . *The jubilee 500th member of the Payday: The Secret group received the invitation to the Payday Troll group as well granting him the ingame Troll mask set . *Last team who did the Secret reached the vault about 15 minutes before the deadline. They had not enough time to try finishing the complete heist because of the video preparation and submition the mail with evidence to Overkill Software. The video from their attempt is called Legendary Last Run. The video shows also the moment of Overdrill being finished and the door sliding up. *Secret run statistics - succesful attempts per players: Epilogue Open questions related to the Secret Payday Secret 2012 ARG event is definitelly over, the eligible succesful Secret runners were invited into Payday: The Secretgroup and received the Grand Prize. Even after the end there are still some open questions: *What is the second part of the Grand Prize? Was the beta testing of Payday 2 originally intended as the prize? Message from Bain is very unclear and could be hardly considered as a prize. : Speculations might be that at the time of solving the Secret the anticipated insanity of 2 hours drill on Overkill 145+ difficulty followed by resolving the tiles puzzle (almost trial / error way) with indirect clues would require extreme strenghtening of the player base. Then those deeply devoted players, who could beat such hard Secret, would be good players to make Payday 2 beta testing. Later, when the camping for two hours strategy was discovered, it allowed a massive amount of players (compared to what was anticipated by Overkill Software) to finish the Secret run succesfully and Overkill Software might reconsider their decision about the Payday 2 beta testing. *How does Pumapunku temple relate to the Secret solution? It needed lot of effort and previous clues to find the Payday Static 2 picture, but it seems Pumapunku didn't help the solution at all. *How do the Secret Masks motives relate to the Secret Solution? Only Chains Yggdrasil mask seems to represent a Secret clue, but the others seem to be just decorations from the Counterfeit heist map elements. Dallas mask Beta 2 symbol is not related to anything in game. *What is the relation of Fleur-De-Lys to the Secret? This motive occures on several places: Overvault tiles puzzle, boys room under ceiling painting in Counterfeit Mitchel house, backside of cards on Payday Anniversary poster, Hoxton Secret mask . *Which other clues than posts from Bo (about First World Bank vault on Overkill 145+, not shooting the cameras and ppl watch you take the gold) could motivate players to keep the cameras intact on Overkill 145+ difficulty to trigger the Secret? The Bo's posts were considered as trolling, because a week before them (2-Aug-2012) Bo initiated the Troll event with Troll masks as the reward. *What does link the Overvault tiles puzzle with the rug? It seems the only similarity between them is the 4x6 size of the pattern. *Is it possible to reset the green smoke after pressing the wrong tile and allow to set the tiles again, correctly? At the time of Secret solving the survival for 2 hours on Overkill 145+ diffuclty was imagined by the players community as inhuman and repeatedly failing with the tiles puzzle solution would make the hardcore players very angry and demotivated. *Are there some other clues, which were not discovered? Other in-game clues, other static pictures or hints provided by Overkill Software? Undercover secret and other secrets? Players were with relation to the Secret complaining about low reward in Undercover map. Bo Andersson replied that players are "missing something". This fact with missing floor 1 in the Undercover building and other small discoveries in the map feed the expectations about the other secret in Undercover map. In First World Bank the Team 7200 picture could be shown in normal and scary form. The scary form appears only in multiplayer game, it was not discovered what triggers the scary form picture appearance, or if it is completely random.